Hyperallergic critic Matt Stromberg reviews Dataland, a new AI art museum in Los Angeles co-founded by media artist Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç, opening to the public on June 20. The inaugural exhibition, "Machine Dreams: Rainforest," is an immersive audio-visual-olfactory experience synthesizing 1.2 billion data points about the natural world, using a "Large Nature Model" trained on datasets from partners including the Smithsonian Institution and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Visitors wear a scent-dispensing device and receive a Data.Token wristband as they navigate a 25,000-square-foot space in the Frank Gehry-designed Grand LA tower, with ticket prices ranging from $49 to $129.
Dataland bills itself as "the world's first museum of AI Arts," but the review questions whether it functions more like a theme park than a traditional museum, drawing comparisons to Disneyland and natural history museums. The article highlights tensions between the museum's stated commitments to ethical AI and sustainability—its AI model runs on Google Cloud with 87% carbon-free energy—and its lack of financial transparency, as it is a for-profit institution that refuses to disclose costs or investors. This matters because it reflects broader debates about the commercialization of AI art, the role of immersive experiences in museums, and the need for accountability in privately funded cultural institutions.